A TAMESIDE MP has held his hands up to a ‘simple, honest mistake’ after being caught up in a row over using a doctored image.
Andrew Gwynne posted the picture making out he was at the borough’s Armed Forces Day celebrations on his Facebook page.
However, several people quickly exposed his pose and attire were the exact same as a shot of him on the other side of his Gorton and Denton constituency in Levenshulme the day before.
Now he has admitted to The Correspondent the image was him superimposed on to a background of events at Victoria Park.
And he admits the episode is a ‘little embarrassing.
Mr Gwynne, still technically an Independent as he remains suspended from the Labour Party as it investigates the now notorious Trigger Me Timbers WhatsApp group, said: “It just a simple mistake.
“As soon as I saw it had been posted I removed it.
“I had forwarded 15 images taken by my son to my office, who do my social media posts.
“I don’t look at social media anymore as it’s not good for my mental ill health which I’m really struggling with right now.
“I do, however, do the infographics that go up as no-one else can use Canva since Tim (Hammersley) left.
“I had intended doing a covering photo apologising for not being in attendance and this is the early saved part of that from Canva, which must have saved to my camera roll and I forwarded it with the rest.
“In the end I just thought it best to have pics from the day without an explanation which is what’s up.
“A simple, honest mistake rectified very quickly and just a little bit embarrassing.”
Mr Gwynne is not the first Tameside MP to be caught up in a row over using doctored images.
In 2007, then Stalybridge and Hyde representative James Purnell was embroiled in a debate over a picture at Tameside Hospital showing other MPs, including a young Mr Gwynne.
His image was actually inserted into it as he had not showed up on time with the hospital saying in statement: “As we would not be able to stage a repeat of this historic day for the hospital, we decided to take a photograph of Mr Purnell in the same spot very shortly after, and merge it with the earlier photograph, to which Mr Purnell kindly consented.
“We apologise if anyone feels misled.”
However, his office said at the time: “It is not as if he was never there. In no way did James say, ‘Just add me in so it looks like I was there.’”